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West Genesee quarterback Dan Ginestro is chased by Tyrone Wheatley, Jr. of Fayetteville-Manlius. Wheatley Jr., who has since transferred to Canisius, is the top-rated high school football player from New York in the 2015 recruiting class.
(Jim Commentucci | The Post-Standard)

In regards to loyalty to your state and all those things, I don't think that really exists that much anymore." - Rob Moore, former receivers coach

Orchard Park, N.Y. — During last week's national signing day press conference, Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer said he targeted "six or seven" prospects from New York for the 2014 recruiting class. Syracuse signed two of those players in junior college-transfer Wayne Williams, a defensive tackle from Brooklyn, and West Genesee High School's Naesean Howard, who is expected to start his college career at safety.

The discernible undertone was Shafer is not pleased with what has been a pattern the last several years. Syracuse, which spent a significant amount of dollars branding itself as New York's College Team, is often an afterthought for the limited number of the state's highly valued players. SU has gotten a fair share of in-state prospects over the years and has developed some into bonafide NFL talent — no better examples than brothers Arthur and Chandler Jones. Yet in a year in which the state's top three prospects, all rated four stars, played a significant position of need for SU's class, the Orange struck out.

Rob Moore, the school's ex-wide receivers coach recently hired for the same position with the Buffalo Bills, was responsible for recruiting sections 1 and 9 in the city's five boroughs and Long Island. In the summer, a hint of frustration emanated when dissecting why Syracuse was being bypassed by its top in-state talent. At the time, Moore said some players believe "they're too big for Syracuse," and coming through campus as a courtesy was more or less disrespectful. He reiterated here Tuesday that recruiting has greatly changed in the three decades since he left Hempstead, N.Y., for Syracuse, when education, tradition and proximity to his younger siblings mattered most.

"At the end of the day, in regards to loyalty to your state and all those things, I don't think that really exists that much anymore," Moore said. "The students are just different now. It's a different time, and you adjust to that."

In this just-completed recruiting cycle, the prized recruits all resided in Brooklyn. Thomas Holley, a highly regarded defensive tackle prospect unofficially visited Syracuse in the summer but was never believed to be high on SU by the time he signed with Florida. Wide receiver Curtis Samuel (Ohio State) and defensive tackle Jay Hayes (Notre Dame) never seemed to be realistic targets either.

The jewel of New York in 2015 is defensive end/tight end Tyrone Wheatley Jr., the former Fayetteville-Manlius star and son of former Syracuse assistant coach Tyrone Wheatley. Wheatley Jr. moved west to Canisius not long after his father accepted a position on Doug Marrone's staff with the Buffalo Bills. He already holds scholarship offers from schools such as Alabama, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Penn State and USC. Can Syracuse seriously join the conversation with Wheatley Jr.?

JC Shurburtt, a national recruiting analyst for 247Sports, said college football recruiting is still geographically oriented, but Syracuse's location makes it difficult for the core of its classes to live in-state. "Syracuse isn't a school that's around a lot of talent," said Shurburtt, who expects Syracuse to continue to hit Illinois and South Florida hard moving forward, given the coaching staff's strong ties to those markets.

But a frontier that remains elusive to Syracuse is the perception of winning at home, a concept that did not escape Shafer's mind when introducing his latest batch of players a week ago.

"We're still fighting that fight to keep the kids at home, and all we can do is continue to improve our product and hope that we can keep those kids at home," Shafer said.

Follow Nate Mink on Twitter @MinkNate or email him at nmink@syracuse.com.